Few franchises have such deep and strong roots as The Legend of Zelda. Ever since its first appearance in the NES it has been a standard in quality and interesting gameplay (except, of course, for some exceptions, you know what I mean). As E3 is now fading from our discussions and minds, the series has gotten new attention, accentuated by the long awaited Sequelitis episode that recently was uploaded in Youtube. On one hand we have an avid and quite perceptive gamer arguing the loss of exploration, the sense of awe and wonder as the series has progressed, on the other we have an explicit promise by the developers in Nintendo that the world will turn into an open world experience.

Exploring is usually synonymous to Zelda. The idea of finding a secret was always one of the thing we took for granted when playing the games. But then Egoraptor reminds us that it is not always what it seems. Specially the streamlining of dungeons shows us how using a basic structure we can eliminate the excitement of discovery in a game. I think this was one of the most interesting points made in his comment: instead of letting us wonder what to do with x item, we know it will be there to kill the corresponding boss of the dungeon. I have always been more a 2-D Zelda player, and this problem is part of even the best of those handheld games. The Oracle of Seasons/Ages, for example, are specially faulty in this regard (I still love them, though).

Then came A Link Between Worlds. Apart from this being the game that made me buy a 2DS, I pretty much thought the game had a nifty twist, part of which I already discussed in a previous article. The idea of the already looted items, all taken from their respective dungeons, eliminated the enslavement of the player to the dungeon-specific item. Only the first three dungeons require a specific item, which you can rent for a moment. So why have all those other items then? Well, they serve to explore the world. If you noticed, a common complaint of some reviewers (one example here) is that the game was short, easy to finish. I feel this was on purpose. The dungeons themselves were short, easy to finish in less than half an hour. This had two functions: first to keep the game handheld friendly, since nobody wants to interrupt a dungeon and restart it later, since handheld’s focus has always been to quickly play and to be able to stop at any moment. But the second main objective of short dungeons was to make the player explore the world, instead of focusing only on the cave you had to get to. I think that fact was missed by many gamers, who were so used to the usual “Zelda Formula”, that they forgot that there was life under the sun of Hyrule/Lorule. A completionist would see it all, but a regular gamer such as myself could have missed the heightened exploration factor of the game. And it gets even worse when suddenly you are dropped in a new world and you have eight lairs to get to, but you have not the usual numbers or limitations as in A Link to the Past and forward. I personally loved it: I was now free to skip the dungeon with the guards entirely, so I could do, what is to me, the busy work until the last. I loved the freedom, and more Zelda games should strive to this end.

There is still the question on how guided a game should be. I can agree that the latest Zeldas have this issue, in which they block your path until you get x item, and also tell you to do this first and then that, much like a chore. But then there is the issue of conveyance, something Egoraptor himself discusses at one point. My biggest gripe with the two NES Zeldas and why I think they don’t hold up anymore is that they don’t guide you, they are way to cryptic. A little guidance is necessary to know what is happening. Exploration should not be limited by too much hand holding, but at the same time it should not be too free, since this confuses the player more than making the game enjoyable. Again, A Link Between Worlds does this masterfully: yes, here are your eight dungeons, however, you have no order and you are free to explore each section as you like.

That’s where I think A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds represent the main theme of Zelda perfectly. Maybe in the first game you have a few numbers of the map, but they are for the most part open, and you can progress at your pace. There is no need to get a letter of play a song to make someone happy to progress. The latter one even omits numbers and almost every limitation, giving you the chance to really look into the “overworld” and sometimes even forget the main quest.

I think this is the kind of exploration most of us would like. Not hand holding, but neither total freedom and a loss of sense of direction. Some guidance is necessary, but not too restrictive as to keep you technically on a straight path with a little fork at the end, as Ocarina of Time did.

These are, at least, my two cents on this rich discussion that has erupted. I think there is much to be expected from the new game that will come up, specially on this new focus of letting the player regain control over his action and let him do what games best let us do: to determine our own actions and to live with the decisions made in game.

Advancing further on, I have gone down in the caves of Mole Town. Although I have not beaten the boss yet, since I am still spelunking, I am advancing steadily. Interesting for me this time was the inclusion of certain characters from the Donkey Kong series, such as a brain-washed Donkey Kong. It is quite funny how many characters of other games tend to appear. I already encountered link sleeping in a bed next to me, but I also know Samus to be doing the same in some other city.

Not much else to critique, but it turns out there has been recently released a little review on the game. I may not concur with everything the guy says, but definitely it is worth a little look into it:

The game goes on. I have last session finished the tutorial-like gameplay and have finally set out to my adventure, getting the first star back. The whole business with the shy-guys was quite funny. Before I entered that boss, though, I decided to grind. This is a magical word in the RPG genre, and it has been a very though point in the debate. Compared to normal platformers, the standard RPG is always riddled with the obligatory sections of killing enemies just for the sake of the experience and to get to a better level to eliminate the next boss. Some just don’t like the idea.

For me this mechanic has been a core experience when going into games. I prefer this grinding method, not because it makes me feel better, but because it permits me to relax the mind for a while. I usually end up thinking the most unimaginable thinks while pressing a few buttons and watching my character grow.

There is something to be said about grinding. There are times this can be exaggerated. While it is nice to have now and then a moment of respite and some time to think about the next great philosophy, others just want you to sit on the A button for an eternity to advance. I usually measure the greatness of an RPG depending on the times you will have to grind to unlock the next part of a story. We have to remember that we play those games because of the epic story lines that develop. In other words, an RPG acts often as a book, where you can travel along the story and do mini games, side quests and other things that do not follow the completion, to take a break, while we enjoy our capacity of decision-making that video games allow us to have. Something like a book with distractions for when we get bored of the story without exiting the world that has been so beautifully presented to us.

My general rule of thumb is around three to five great grinding sessions. Too many and the game will be frustrating and boring, showing us how the difficulty spikes are constant and require us to stay in the same areas for too long. My war cry at this moment is always: “Just let me go on with the %&@! story!”. On the other hand, fewer grinding sessions usually speak of an easy game, which flows. Those types of RPGs are fine, since they permit you to continue without stopping, but sometimes make you miss forced stops to appreciate the details around your normal storyline.

An example of a game that has too many grinding stops is Sword of Hope. When I found the second game on my 3DS’s virtual store, I was quite amazed. I only had played the first iteration, and it was quite bad, since I was the only party member who had to fight incredibly tough foes at every turn. It was easier to grind for three hours at each zone instead of being instantly poisoned, paralyzed and then killed of by a group of three enemies. I just downloaded the game to see if there had been some improvements on the formula. There were some, namely the capacity of having one more member with an occasional third from time to time. But the main frustrating elements were still there: grinding, grinding, grinding.

In SMRPG I have now engaged a little session of grinding, just to make sure I could beat the first boss, and it was not too bad. I enjoy the mechanic of paying constantly attention to the game, to get the criticals flowing, and the session did not last longer than ten minutes. Also, I got some new stuff, which made the little effort worth it. My general level is still low, but I think I can manage the game with two sessions of grinding, which is great for an RPG game, easy to follow.

The story is now rolling and Mallow has a “destiny” in front of him. Still, the isometric view drives me crazy. Next session I will have Geno standing on my side, so I am greatly looking forward to it!

So here is the first hour of replaying Super Mario RPG. Basically this means that most of the game I have relived is the “tutorial”, in other words, the whole ‘teaching the player the mechanics of the game’. How this game handles it is quite interesting, since it is not only a text tutorial, but also an experienced tutorial, much like the Mega Man X game on the SNES. But later on that.

I finally sat down to play the first hour of the game, beer in hand and some leftover potato chips from Domino’s, ready to tackle the first memories. It was quite funny for the first moments to see the intro, which tells us the basic story: Bowser kidnaps that dumb princess again, Mario after them. This is quite a misleading intro though, since once you start the game, the real bad guy is this big sword part of the “Smith Gang”.

The real use of this intro sequence is thus, take us into familiar territory. Once I started the game, it replayed the intro, unskippable by the way. It may be a few seconds long, but if this is in the preview video, why not make it skippable? Anyway, it turns out that between the start screen and that video, there is a piece of story, which takes you into familiar territory: rescue the princess. This time around, you get to experiment a bit with the new style of the game, finding some smaller Hammer Bros blocking your way. Then an epic battle with Bowser on two chandeliers, which, as far as I know, is not that normal. Also, to add to the familiarity in this weirdly changed format, Bowser arrives in the clown mobile, or whatever that thing in Super Mario World was. For my play-through, it seemed like a quite natural thing, since I already knew the dynamics, but I must imagine how many people must have felt. The weirdness of the situation, in which the familiar mashes with what will become the predominant way of playing is just unfathomable now, after a few iterations of the RPG-styled Mario.

Quite funny are the graphics. Although not as impressive as they had been a few years back, they still hold this funny charm. Seeing Mario constantly break the laws of physics to silently tell what we already know does lead to some smile inducing scenes, and Bowser’s crying is just to epically funny! The characters acquire here a funny 3D modelling that I kinda miss today, which makes them look pudgy. Yep, definitely a good bunch of nostalgia built up during the first half hour.

After tutorialling (I know it’s not a word!) my way through the first battles, I finally get to advance the story and meet the first character, what I suppose will be the wizard class of my group. Mallow, the not so froggy frog, was forgotten in my first appraisal of the game. Immediately I am on the brink of deciding what each of the characters is supposed to be in an RPG. Is this Mallow, the cloud person, supposed to be my spell caster and Mario my fighter? I definitely am here on a crossroad at the moment. And no, I am not picking up a guide for that. The first time I played it I did not have one, but I got through the game fine enough, even being able to beat the hardest enemy of the game. So why not do it again? Plus, there are a lot of hints on the function of each character.

Mario is the hammer wielding hero, who jumps on the enemies, so he is most probably the fighter. Mallow presents himself by conjuring up storms while crying, which makes him most definitely a wizard in my standards. This is exactly what I like about this tutorial. Yes, there are the boring scripted parts, where Toad teaches you the mechanics in an seemingly unending text, like the timed critical hit and the use of items, but at the same time much is taught to you through the story through subtle hints and association. I have no manual, since I bought the game in a loose cartridge, so I don’t know if there are further hints. But until now the game has been teaching me the basics sometimes screaming in my face, other times just silently letting me watch the details. Besides, I think I never noticed this until now, with a few years extra of playing. Quite ingenious!

Also, the jokes tend to blend in with the story pretty good. The chancellor of the Mushroom Kingdom, a toad himself, bellows “Spores alive!” and one of the powers the big Hammer Bro uses against me is “Hammer Time” which just brings me back memories of baggy pants and constant affirmations of me being able not to touch someone.

The only thing I have found off-putting up to now is the isometric view, which is conjuring up some images of platforming issues, but I think I will comment this later, when the issues arise.

Also, a lot more things have come into my mind, but I diligently made some notes on these and I will bring them up as I progress on the story, so I don’t run out of ideas during the next parts. There is really a lot of gold in this game, which makes my nostalgic factor feel heightened, even after all those years I had not played the game. I am really looking forward for the next hours!

Games come and go. Some just appear. Then others stay in our years for decades to come. Nostalgia is something that plagues many of us. And how many times does not this blind us and even sometimes, when we return to that classic game, disappoint us. Some games just don’t survive the passing of time. Mario 64 is one of those that comes to my mind immediately. Yes, it was a great game back in the day, but today the camera alone kills me so much that part of the fun is gone.

So this is the idea of this series on this blog. I will replay, little by little old games that were part of my childhood, maybe one day one I never played, giving my thoughts on the game while I finish it. the idea is to play an hour of the game and gather my thoughts on it, trying to think not only how this game has changed, but also some random things. Take it as a constant rambling while enjoying an oldie, but goodie.

For this first time I will tike one of my favorites. Super Mario RPG was one of the last (if not the last) game developed by Square back in the days of the Super Nintendo, very well at the end of the console’s life cycle. What followed after that was a painful, yet fruitful departure of the master of RPGs into other consoles. Super Mario RPG in itself was also a departure of the normal game-play style that was normally the meat and bones of Mario Bros., which is the platformer.

I will have to concede here that I played this game much later than originally intended, since It was well at the end of the N64 era that I got hold of a copy of that game and a SNES, since my parents were not big fans of me playing games. But the effect it had in me was great. Back then I was already a big fan of the RPG genre and I had already played a few good ones and a few bad ones, Sword of Hope being one of my strongest memories. The game, even in the light of the new console, looked quite amazing to me. The game itself just was grand. I remember that it was littered with jokes and some interesting references, such as cameos by Link, Samus (whom I did not know back then) and even a Final Fantasy Boss. I got to fight him and beat him, making it one of the few games I had completed. After that I looked forward to playing other Mario RPG installments, being the Game Boy Advance one (Mario and Luigi) the most prominent one.

What do I remember from this game?

Not much really. There was this new character, everyone seemed to love, a wooden figure. Then there was this weird, yet epic alliance between Mario and Bowser, to gain back the castle. One thing that had bothered me though was the level cap that, if my memory serves me correctly, was somewhere around the 30, pretty low for what I was used for. There was also a team of Power Ranger look-alikes. For a teen that hated the Power Rangers like me, every time I beat them it was the source of some satisfaction.

So, yes, the game had a lot to offer and a lot to remember. I even put the game as one of my most nostalgic memories, which is why I got excited when I found a copy at my local retro store. Now that I can replay it, I am just thinking on how much I am going to enjoy it. In any case, I want to share those thoughts, maybe you can agree on this. I hope this review/Let’s play mixture of game will tell me if the game is still good after those many years.

I am expecting to be able to put out at least one article on my replay every week, since my work time swallows up a lot of my play time. Let’s also see how much time it will take me to finish it. lastly, let’s hope you will enjoy those thoughts too!

Since the WiiU has appeared on the markets, I have been kinda interested in the controllers. These elements are of vital importance, since this is the way we communicate with the game. Throughout its history, Nintendo has had different controllers from console to console, while its competitors have changed the input device very little on each of their renditions.

Thus today I will focus only on Nintendo controllers, since they have been very prone to change. Also, I will explain how I felt the controllers. I am not an expert on console history, so I may do one or two wrong suppositions on the creation of the devices. In any case, this is more a description on how I handled the different changes. Also, in sake of keeping it short, I will not touch the handheld systems.

Maybe the most basic controller, it was a simple way to steer the characters. Two action buttons (A and B) and two selection buttons (Select and Start), these buttons pretty much shaped the way the buttons are shaped on a controller. Just check the X-Box and the PS and you will see exactly those two selection buttons on each of them. It was very functional back then, and the D-Pad was, even after the Game & Watch games, very new and very easy to use. The Atari had used back then a joystick, which was nice, but a little bit unwieldy. Only drawback was the position of the different buttons. They were in one line, which were a bit uncomfortable to play with, somewhat not ergonomic. Later renditions of the same controller tilted the buttons, making them easier to reach.

SNES

My favourite controller ever created. Period. It had the exact amount of buttons, making it possible for many variations of movements for fighting games and even action games. L and R were included, making the idle fingers on the top of the controller active and ready. Most amazing of all was the fact that they could now port computer games like Doom on the console, since computer games required a lot of buttons to play. The buttons were also tilted, and the corners rounded, which made all the buttons more reachable. It was also the time when they included the extra buttons, X and Y. Why Z had not been a first choice for designation, though, I still do not understand.

N64

This controller is maybe one of the most interesting in what Nintendo had to offer. There were a ton of extra buttons: the four C-Buttos and, finally, a Z-Button. But specially the form of the controller was weird. Although its focus was to be a controller you could use in two ways, you mostly used the trigger arm in the middle. The Z was perfectly placed to emulate a little gun that was perfect for playing shooters and similar games. It gave you the feeling that you were actually shooting at your opponent. Maybe it is because of that Golden Eye was also a huge success.

Game Cube

My least favourite of all and the one that tried to emulate the PS maybe a little too much. Although the buttons were simplified, I still don’t get why the A-Button was so big and why the B so small. Not much to say, I only played Smash Brothers on it.

Wii

Now, I don’t know hot to conceive this controller. Even though it was more a motion stick for the game, once the novelty was over and you settled on the sofa, the controller was somewhat weird and fun. You had it technically separated into two parts, so you could make yourself comfortable however you liked. Even though the idea of the 1 and 2 buttons seemed good, it was strange to know forget about the A and B designation. Later peripherals would get the old names back, but trying to say “press 1″was really awkward after years of playing the old way.

Even though I am a big Nintendo fan, I still prefer the PS controller over every other controller. It is just perfect and, even though it has a lot of buttons, it is easy to access. If there is something Nintendo missed here, it’s the consistency. Each generation was an interesting new experiment, but after the standard SNES controller, they swerved too much out of a comfort zone, trying always to be different from the competitors. I don’t think it was necessary, but still they did, and at the end it was a slew of nice childhood memories.

Many times we are appalled by the quality of the movie to game adaptations that flood the marked today. Just watch most of the Harry Potter series and you will notice that the games were made in such a rush, that no one can find the fun that this game is supposed to convey. But it has not always been so. Back in the age of the SNES, we had a lot of fun games that were adapted from TV series and moving pictures: Aladdin, The Lion King, etc.

Now, as those who have read the blog a bit know, I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I read the comics, I play the games whenever possible and even enjoy the series. I may be considered a fan, if it wasn’t for my lack of fanaticism when following a series. I watch whenever I can. Still, I can assert that I really love them.

Back when the SNES was all the rage, the TMNT had a handful of excellent adaptations. Today we will focus on only one of those: Turtles in Time. Adapted from the arcades, the game is an excellent beat ’em up, in which the turtles get banished by Shredder into different time periods to fight old and future mutations. I can remember the nights my fiends and I played this game for hours just to finish it.

It was an excellent port to the SNES. Even though the number of players was limited to two due to controller restrictions, the fun was nonetheless fantastic. The enemies were the same and the turtles were there in full force. The graphics were great and it felt like playing the actual cartoon of our time. Even the music was interesting. I definitely enjoyed the Shredder fight at the beginning, in which you had to throw the Foot Soldiers at him.

Another thing that had drawn my attention back then, although it was not new, was the use of voices to announce some levels and some things that happened during the game. Picking up a Pizza turned into a “Pizza time!” yell that felt really satisfying.

This game not only serves as a proof that good games can be made on TV series, but also that ports can be good… unlike the disaster Mortal Kombat turned int by just changing the color of blood to the color of sweat and eliminating the fatalities. Definitely worth a play through.

May they smile upon your way!

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Welcome to a blog of gaming, movies, books and some history. In here I explore the stories that have carried us over decades, yes, even centuries, to what defines us today. I hope you enjoy it and comment, I am always open to respond!
This blog is updated whenever possible, once a week.